See Also

The reason that alcohol doesn't necessarily increase weight is unclear, but research suggests that alcohol energy is not efficiently used.2 Alcohol also appears to increase metabolic rate significantly, thus causing more calories to be burned rather than stored in the body as fat.3 Other research has found that the consumption of sugar decreases as the consumption of alcohol increases.4

Whatever the reasons, the consumption of alcohol is not associated with weight gain and is sometimes associated with weight loss in women. The medical evidence of this is based on a large number of studies of thousands of people around the world. Some of these studies are very large; one involved nearly 80,000 and another included 140,000 subjects.5

The following list presents the calories, carbs and fat found in standard servings of both alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages.

Source: United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) Nutrient Data Laboratory. USDA National
Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16-1. Available
at www.nal.usda.gov/.

The moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with better health and longer life than is either abstaining from alcohol or abusing alcohol. However, heavy drinking is associated with cirrhosis of the liver, breast cancer, and other health problems. The key word is moderation.

What is Moderation?

Moderate drinking has been described by the National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) as a man consuming four drinks on any day and
no more than 14 drinks per week. For women, it has been defined as
consuming three drinks in any one day and and no more than seven drinks
per week. It now uses the term low-risk drinking to describe those
guidelines Dietary Guidelines for Americans describes consuming one drink
per day for women and two drinks per day for men as moderate drinking.

Remember that the alcohol content of standard drinks are equivalent [learn more about Alcohol Equivalence]. A drink is a drink is a drink. To a breathalyzer, they're all the same. For more, visit Standard Drinks.

Most countries define moderation at higher levels of consumption than does the US. For example, Australia, Italy and France consider from three to over four drinks per day for men to be moderate drinking. People are all different. To decide what level is appropriate for you, consult your doctor.

Cordain, L., et al. Influence of moderate daily wine consumption upon body weight regulation and metabolism in healthy free living males. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 1997, 16(2), 134-139.

Hellerstedt, W. L., et al. The association between alcohol intake and adiposity in the general population. American Journal of Epidemiology, 1990, 132(4), 594-611.